“To prove my love for this country, I would have done the same, if my child was taking part in such anti-national protests.”

A senior BJP leader from Tamil Nadu has targeted CPI leader D Raja over the JNU row, saying the MP should prove his patriotism by asking his comrades to shoot his daughter for participating in the “anti-national protests” at the university.

“To prove my love for this country, I would have done the same, if my child was taking part in such anti-national protests,” said BJP national secretary H Raja.

Addressing a press conference in Coimbatore on Saturday, H Raja also described Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury as “anti-nationals” for taking part in the “events” at JNU.

“If Communists love this country, were they supposed to be there at an anti-national event? All those who attended the events in JNU are anti-nationals, whether it is Rahul (Gandhi) or (D) Raja or (Sitaram) Yechury. They are all anti-nationals,” said H Raja.

When contacted by The Indian Express on Sunday, the BJP leader said he “did not mean to kill anyone”.

CPI veteran D Raja did not respond directly to the BJP leader’s statement but drew a parallel to Adolf Hitler’s Germany. As Hitler used the 1933 Reichstag fire as a pretext to establish a dictatorship, a “doctored video” of JNU is being used to dub students as anti-nationals and target “organised Left” and “individuals,” he alleged.

BJP leader H Raja has been known to make inflammatory statements before and was booked by Tamil Nadu police in October 2014 for a speech against Periyar, the Dravidian movement icon, and other Christian and Muslim leaders.

At Saturday’s press conference, he said, “I will expose all anti-nationals. What is happening now in the country is a major ideological fight, to differentiate who is nationalist and anti-nationalist. If you want to live in this country, you have to sing Vande Mataram, or leave this country.”

Raja also alleged that educational institutions were becoming centres of “anti-national” activities. “Outsiders living in JNU should be thrown out. The Vice- Chancellor will implement it soon. It is a hotbed of Islamic State and Naxalites,” he alleged.

Pointing fingers at D Raja’s daughter Aparajita and Umar Khalid, who police say is one of the organisers of the Afzal Guru event at JNU on February 9, the BJP leader alleged that “the nexus of Congress, Communists, atheists and jihadists are destroying this country and our nationalism”.